Help me with gravy. NO BISTO KIDS NEED APPLY

[sassy]

I have decided that at 36 yo it is time for me to stop making gravy using granules, topped up with a dash of meat juices. I know the theory about boiling the roasting pan with water etc and making it there but I don't really know how it is done. Crap ain't it?

Any help gratefully recieved. And try not to scoff at me.

Ok this is the way I do it. Tilt the roasting tin so that all the juices are in the corner. Use a desert spoon to ladle off most of the fat. Then lie flat and put in a desert spoon of cornflour in one corner. Put onto the hob and grad scrape the juices into the cornflour to make a thick paste, then add a splash of wine and some water, about 150 mls. If you've not got a v juicy joint you may need to add some stock instead of water. If you want as well, you can add gravy browning. If it goes lumpy, sieve it.

Ta da!

When you roast your meat, make a vegetable base of sliced onions and carrots. Once the meat is done, take it out and sprinkle some flour over the veg and mix it in. Then put the pan on the heat and deglaze with wine. Add some stock and heat it through then strain the lot through a sieve to get rid of the bits. Such a palaver but very tasty gravy!

I disagree about the fat, lula, too much ruins a good gravy.

Spoon off fat, put pan above hob turned on low and add a good glug of wine (usually white for chicken and red for red meat, red gives a richer gravy), scrape off all the lovely glazed bits until pan is clean - top up with stock (veg or meat) to stop it boiling dry, but not too much. Once alcohol is boiled off and the pan is clean, pour into a pan. Add more stock to taste. Mix 2/3 heaped teaspoons of cornflour with a little water and a good gug of soy sauce (very important). Stir over heat until boiling and thickened, turn heat down, but leave on. Season to taste (soy sauce should mean it's salty enough, so just pepper really) and enjoy. Sieve if needed.

Oh and I would roast some onions in with the joint to flavour juices too.

I'm hungry now.

If you want to get rid of most of the fat, a separator jug is useful - tip the meat juices into it and leave it to stand for a couple of minutes, while you scrape & de-glaze the pan with water/wine.

Pour the meat juices and baking-pan juices into a clean saucepan then whisk in some cornflour mixed with cold water, and heat until it thickens. Add some of the vegetable water, and a stock cube if you like.

I add water to the fat in the pan and a teaspoon of marmite (sounds gross, but this is how my mum and gran made it, and I think their gravy is the best! ).

Then I put the pan on to the stove with two lit gas hobs underneath and let it bubble up, all the while scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan and mixing around. I occasionally add more stock if needed.

Then I add any other ingredients that I need to (usually wine, and for chicken I like a sweet-ish gravy, so add a little bit of redcurrant jelly or cranberry sauce), mix around and let it bubble a bit more until it starts to reduce, then transfer to a jug through a sieve and skim off fat over the course of a few minutes.

I like a thin gravy - a 'jus' if you will - so don't bother with cornflour, but if you like it thicker, you would add a cornflour and water mixture instead of just water.

Ah thanks all. Will try next time I do a roast